"Avoid chaos. It's better to have an actual plan than the ‘concepts of a plan’" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Let's talk about planning.
It seems that a lot of people are suddenly talking about planning. Indeed, it seems there was a sudden spike in the universe around the idea of having a 'concept of a plan' as opposed to an actual plan. This seems to have happened the evening of September 10.
And I'm willing to admit that sometimes when I am golfing and confronted with complexity, I might often start with the concept of a plan.
But here's the thing - as a futurist, who tends to deal with the issues you need to think about to get to tomorrow, I'm a big fan of having at least some sort of plan. Not just a concept. You need to move beyond the 'conceptual' phase if you want to get anything done.
And in many cases, it's usually a good idea to plan to have a plan. And yes, it's generally better to have a concrete plan than just a "concept of a plan." After all, a plan provides clarity - it's useful for achieving goals, meeting timelines and responsibilities, and such. Kind of useful stuff, don't you think?
Oh, and it's helpful too for execution - it will help you get things done, by outlining the specific actions that need to be taken. Come to think about it, without a plan, you can miss some really important steps, leading to delays and failure and worse. A plan also gives you measurability and accountability - a useful metric to see how you are doing. Not only that but will feed you with the oxygen of adaptability - if you have a plan, you will know when you need to adapt and change your plan when it inevitably goes off the rails.
Come to think of it, does a 'concept of a plan' actually go off the rails? Inquiring minds want to know.
So, ya, in most cases, I'm pretty much in favor of having a 'plan' as opposed to a 'concept of a plan.'
Leaders are fans of plans too. A McKinsey study found that having a clear plan or framework significantly impacts leadership effectiveness. Indeed, in that study, 92% of leaders who embraced a comprehensive leadership framework (big consulting speak for 'plans') felt confident in their ability to lead during times of change, compared to only 21% of those without a clear structure!
So plans matter.
By the way, today's image comes courtesy of a famous scene from the TV series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" - and a famous scene in which the mailroom guy could not find a fellow named "Pepe Silvia." Conceptually, he was struggling to find a concept of a plan to deal with finding Pepe. But maybe that's another story for another day.
Oh, and I always like to ask MidJourney to use AI to generate an image from my quote of the day. This is what I got.
It's pretty chaotic.
Chaos happens.
Have a plan.
Futurist Jim Carroll sometimes has concepts, but has many plans.